How Music Works—the book I wrote on music that came out a year ago—is now out in paperback in the US and the UK. It’s been updated and amended considerably, as times change and so do we all. Though it will inevitably fail to keep up with some emerging technologies, I hope that the basic ideas will remain relevant for a long time.

The book took me a number of years to write and revise, and revise again—but it’s essentially a book with one idea: that context shapes music. Music isn’t an autonomous thing; what we hear is shaped by many extra-musical factors. Some chapters are autobiographical and anecdotal—as I can use my recording and performing experience to talk about how those mediums have affected my own musical output. Other chapters delve into (amongst other things) the economics of the music business, the acoustics of venues, music education and the idea of support for the arts… and whether or not musical structures are hard-wired in us.

The hardback that McSweeney’s did is a beautiful object (and is still available), but this version might be easier to carry around—and it’s cheaper. Plus it has new words and pictures.

In other news, I’ve just completed a tour with St. Vincent—a little sad, as the reception to this collaborative project has been extraordinary.

Here Lies Love, the musical, will have continued life as a live show and there will be a cast album with about 7 news songs on Nonesuch—more news on that soon.